Le Professionnel

Le Professionnel (The Professional) is a 1981 French action thriller film directed by French director Georges Lautner, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Desailly and Robert Hossein, based on the award-winning 1976 novel Death of a Thin-Skinned Animal by Patrick Alexander.

The music is composed by Ennio Morricone and the theme music "Chi Mai" is known worldwide.

Plot

French secret agent Josselin Beaumont is sent to Malagawi (a fictional African country) to kill their president for life (in other words their dictator) Colonel Njala. However, before Beaumont gets to Njala, the political situation changes suddenly and the French secret service betrays him to the Malagawian authorities. After a long and unfair trial — Beaumont is injected with drugs — he is sentenced to long-term penal servitude at a "re-education camp". After a daring escape with one of the inmates he returns to France and informs the French secret service — his betrayers — of his presence promising that he will kill Njala, who is in France for an official visit, and get his revenge on the people who betrayed him. The Secret Service get nervous and send secret police on Beaumont's trail, but Beaumont is always one step ahead, with cunning plans and helpful sources, and manages to humiliate and even kill some of the major betrayers, including the ruthless chief of the secret police, Rosen. Beaumont kills Rosen in a gunfight and replaces his ID with his, spreading a fair amount of confusion within the secret service, so they reduce Njala's guard temporarily. Beaumont eventually manages to get Njala killed — he leads the secret service to snipe the dictator by mistake. But as Beaumont calmly tries to escape by boarding Njala's helicopter, he is gunned down by the French government, which is shown to incite some political tensions.

External links

• Le Professionnel at the Internet Movie Database
• Le Professionnel at AllRovi
• Le Professionnel at Rotten Tomatoes